Heraklion Villages Reviews

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I found the town of Heraklion a bit crowded, but not surprisingly, for this is the main city in Crete. The city is built on the side of a hill overlooking the port and with my fully loaded backpack, the climb to the center of town took quite an effort. Our hotel was in the centre of the island. We stayed in the town for one night and next day took the bus to Chania.

If you are looking for a quiet and tranquil getaway, Heraklion is definitely not the choice. Buses, cars, trucks, blaring horns, busy streets bustling with shops, cafes and restaurants, is pretty much what the city is about. If you happen to take a trip to the central market in the heart of the city, you will be in for a few surprises.

I wandered through the small alleys close to the pedestrian area of the square and came across little shops selling interesting things. Thankfully, the back streets are closed to traffic because they belong to the Old Town. One of the most striking features of Heraklion is its huge harbor crowded with ferries and cruise ships. There is a huge Venetian fortress in the harbor that protected the town from invaders.

The most interesting trip was the Minoan palace of Knossos. I was surprised that such an ancient site is so much well preserved today and in such a good state. This town was very rich once but the tsunami waves of the volcanic eruption of Santorini destroyed it, that is why the archaeologists found it almost intact covered by volcanic ashes.

Two summers ago, we stayed in Chania but this time we chose Hersonisos to spend our holidays. A small, nice village close to Heraklion, but still traditional.

What I love mostly in Greece is not the beaches, but how (old) people wake up early in the morning and go to the square to read their paper drinking a hot Greek coffee, even in the middle of the summer. How grandpas go their grandchildren fishing in the evening and teach them something important today: to relax and be patient! How a granny with a chief around the head graps a kid by the hand and they go to the kiosk to buy an ice cream! How men talk about politics and football with so much passion.

These are the moments I miss when I leave Greece, not the long beaches or the good food. You can find that in other countries, too, but the scenes above, you can find only in Greece.

In Hersonisos, I loved that people are still so cool and relaxing. Only a few bad examples are pressing tourists to eat in their tavern or shop from their store. The rest don't pay much attention to you, as long as you don't spoil their calm. If you make noise or be unpolite, then the Greeks will be aggressive. That's from my experience.

Hersonisos is such a lovely village to spend your holidays. The beach is nice and warm and there are frequent buses to Heraklion. If you don't want to make excursions in the inland, no need to rent a car. Buses are frequent and go to many other places.

Hersonissos, where we stayed for two weeks, is a perfect holiday beach location. Also, wonderfully quiet at this time (May) of year. We also spent a week in the mountains inland. My main interest is in wild herbs, for which Crete is famous, but there is so little guidance for the tourist on this. Also Minoan remains, absolutely fantastic- Gortis, Knossos, but best of all Phaestos.

In Heraklion, food is dreadful, it's so meat-oriented. In the villages, and Hersonissos, good vegetarian food was always available. The Cretan Diet is legendary, but almost no one in Europe seems aware of this: you should market the healthy, vegetable-rich Cretan diet as part of the eco-tourism that is obviously the future for Crete.

Put up proper signs to help people get onto the National Road, from Heraklion!!!!! It is utterly impossible, what are you thinking of? Everyone I met on this and previous holidays agrees, getting onto the National Road from Heraklion is an utter nightmare- the signs are worse than useless. I spent 90 minutes, yes, 90 minutes, trying to do this, eventually gave up and drove to Giza and got on there: it's appalling!

The town of Heraklion is not very beautiful, compared to the other big towns in Crete, such as Chania and Agios Nikolaos. The best thing about the town is the port and the strong Fortress on its side. It will take you more than an hour to walk all over the fortress, take pictures and see the view. Such castles are found in other towns of Crete, too, and in many Greek places. It is impressive that they have survived so many centuries, isn't it? Apart from the fortress and the archaeological museum, Heraklion town is a busy centre with a lot of traffic jam and full cafeterias in all spots. I remember we were walking for about half an hour up and down the waterfront to find a table to seat and drink a proper coffee.

A small village at the east of Heraklion. I thought it would be quieter, but eventually Hersonisos turned out to be very crowded, especially among Russians and German. I was surprised to see many luxurious hotels at the surroundings and the beach of Hersonisos, which were almost all overbooked, so I guess book early if you want to stay there. We went on a daily excursion from Heraklion, where our accommodation was. The beach of Hersonisos was great and very calm. If you have children, be sure they will love the Aquaworld Aquarium: there you can see and touch reptiles, snakes and sea creatures. It is a great opportunity to make your children brave and familiar to nature.

The actual town of Heraklion is busier than the other towns of Crete. Too many stores and too much traffic was the dominant sight all around. The cars would make much noise and didn't let you enjoy a coffee at the waterfront. Personally, I prefered the quiet villages of south Crete more than its busy towns. I think a good reason to go to Heraklion is to see the Castle and eat cheap and fresh seafood at the beach. Otherwise, it is like all the normal modern towns.

Our accomodation was in Hersonisos and we stayed for about 10 days there. It is a nice village, although I personally found other resorts more picturesque. I prefer more quiet places and less touristic. This small resort was full of luxurious hotels, with large swimming pools, enormous parking areas, suites and even golf courses. The taverns and cafes were lovely though, especially in the waterfront. Sit for a meal at the taverns on the beach and try Cretan onion pies, dakos and eggplant salad. Great!

We have been to several of the Greek Islands and this is our second time to Crete. Stalis is a very friendly town, we were in the centre of things, great location, views to die for, the beach was great, restaurants excellent, nightlife excellent, everyone catered for. We could not find fault with anything. The food was excellent, loads of great sea food etc, my husband loved the Mexican Tavern and really we were spoilt for choice everynight. Only downside was the price of wine in restaurants, totally over priced for the quality. We had many a good night in the Beachcomer Bar, great Music and craic, barman excellent and really enjoyed it. Great Cocktails everywhere and very reasonable. All the bars serve Magners Cider which was great.
As it was so hot we stayed at the local beach and Star beach, all excellent and most days we had lunch served to us on the beach by a lovely life guard, he was really lovely and had time for everyone. We didn't visit the surrounding area, had no wish to move from Stalis, we had everything we wanted at our fingertips. We were only interested in relaxing by beach and enjoying life, our teenage kids had a ball in the clubs etc. Best places to have a good time: Beachcomer, Secrets, Africian Bar, Bliss, cant remember all the names, but had a great time in all of them. Traffic was a bit of a nightmare each evening, streets very narrow, all the travel buses go through the village. Bikes also a nightmare and some users totall abuse them. Enjoy Crete for what it is, people are very friendly and make you feel very welcome.

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